"Consciousness Expansion Kenny & tENT": I've known Kenny Haney since 1999 when he was a teenager.  We met through anarchist activism.  We didn't start playing together until 2008 when he joined HiTEC (Histrionic Thought Experiment Collective), my Pittsburgh-based chamber orchestra.  He had a knack for Klezmer-influenced Bb clarinet.  We collaborated quite a bit over the ensuing 11 years.  However, he developed a taste for Old Timey music, something I have limited interest in, & started playing string instruments more than reeds.  

I built an addition onto my house, the main purpose of which was to expand my (M)Usic Room to accomodate my increasing instrument collection.  This project is still in progress but the Room is built & many of the instruments are placed & ready to go.  The 1st session I played in the new space was with Ben Opie ( https://youtu.be/4burrBqGw-c ) on July 11, 2021.  This session with Kenny, on August 13, 2021, is the 2nd.  I've come to think of these as "Consciousness Expansions": the idea being that expanding the building is also expanding my consciousness insofar as it's enabling me to experiment more with more space.  Consciousness Expansion doesn't have to involved drugs.  

My intent was to have Kenny play in a somewhat straightforward Old Timey fashion while I moved around him playing some of the instruments that I've placed in the space.  Kenny's only been playing the mandolin for about a month but, as with the clarinet, he's a 'natural' on it.  The instruments that I play are all tuned differently, some are broken, some I play with reasonable facility, some with none at all.  

Imagine us as late shift workers at an Instrument Museum, casually meandering in the storage space fooling around.  Maybe our audio is going into outer space, confusing monitoring non-human lifeforms.  What kind of culture is this, anyway?!  Kenny plays mandolin & banjo; I play Guzheng, Glass Marimba, Spinet, Baby Harp, Ophicleide, Alto Saxophone, 2 simultaneous Harps (tuned differently from each other), detuned Cello, 'Barbed-Wire' Bow, 6 String Electric Guitar, Electric Violin, Xylophone, Tenor/Baritone Saxhorn. Bass Clarinet, Devil's Fiddle, Indonesian Marimba, Toy Piano, Faventia Miniature Barrel Piano, Chime Tree, Steel Pan, Rico Rico, Dinner Bell, Chain, Cymbal, Wind Chimes, Melocipede, Sampler, Korg Kronos, AKAI EWI, Sampler/Mixer, Gong, Tibetan Devil Horn, Electric Kalimba, Psaltery, Antique Cymbals, & Peruvian Whistling Vessel.  

- August 15, 2021 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE 

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